Profoundness in Surrounding Darkness
by Alex Foster
Summary: Two odd ladies living on the outskirts of town after the end of the world. And you don't know what to make of them. Clare/Elle


Title: Profoundness in Surrounding Darkness

Author: Alex Foster

Category: General

Word Count: 630

Rating: PG

Summary: Two odd ladies living on the outskirts of town after the end of the world. And you don't know what to make of them.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by NBC. No money is being made and no infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: Another one for SlashtheDrabble I just couldn't stand to cut down. Originally written using the prompt Your Pairing From The Outside Looking In. Thank you for reading.

…

_Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need._  
-Sarah Ban Breathnach

…

You don't believe in fantasies.

You were born after the destruction—the Aftermathers they call your generation—and have heard all about a world with petrol stations on every corner, machines connected wirelessly to each other, and enough power to let entire countries turn on electric lights at nighttime. Fairy tales, all of them.

Men that can fly, you believe in, even though not many have seen a real live enhanced human since the war. Since they divided into two groups and one tried to destroy the world and the other had to ravage it in order to stop them.

You live in a town call Forsan near the center of the Texas territory and you know you will probably never leave. No one really does now. Wherever you are born is normally where you spend your entire life.

Your father runs a garage that in another lifetime provided discount oil changes to cars and now was a general repair shop for the entire area. Since you were old enough to walk, your father has taught you how to run the shop. One day you will take it over, your children doing the same from you if Forsan is still around by then.

Kept behind the shop is a genuine automobile from before the fall, in mint condition. You remember when your father bought the car. The driver was a small blonde woman, old at twenty to your young eyes, and with her was another woman also blonde. You don't remember the second woman saying anything but the war hadn't been over for very long at that time and some grown ups were like that. Shell shocked. The price for the relic was an agreement for future repair work—your father cut them a good deal.

The two moved into the house old timers still call the Henderson's homestead. Away from the town the women kept to themselves. You grow up hearing the talk they are witches, evil, or just plain weird.

Rumors abound about them over the years. They were mysterious and rarely interacted with the town. Some said they were sisters, running from the travesties of war. Others that they were lovers, former warriors in the war, and just wanted to retire as far from the world as possible.

You don't believe the latter; it's so outlandish how could it be true? Why would two heroes come to Texas of all places?

No one could ever confirm it, but it was said flashes of blue-white light came from the bedroom windows of their house occasionally. The gossipers never could make anything of those stories.

Years pass slowly and numbingly in Forsan and the strange women living on the edge of town became reclusive old ladies. On your way back from the shop one summer evening, while taking a shortcut past the Henderson's 'stead, you spot one of the ladies sitting on their front porch.

She's old now, hair no longer blonde and face lined, and you aren't sure her eyes are good enough to see your neighborly wave. It's only chance that you look back when you are further down the road and see the old woman being helped inside the house. By a young blonde girl, no older than twenty.

You stop in your tracks. They must have guests, even though town gossip would know if there were visitors. She's a granddaughter, surely.

But that face, you know you've seen her before. Back when your father was still alive and running the shop, he cut her a deal for the car. You saw her then looking the same as she does now.

You shake that thought away and carry on home. You convince yourself the girl is just a relative with a striking resemblance. Because anything else would be simply too fantastical.

And you don't believe in fantasies.

**End**


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